Leicester Council seat contested

Independence From
Europe Parliamentary candidates at the launch of their
manifesto
From the left: Helen Bashford, Mike Nattrass, Chris Pain and Ray
Spalding

An Independence From Europe was the 6th largest party
in the Euro Elections, gaining almost a quarter of a million
votes accross England

Thank you for your support

Results

East Midlands

East of England

London

North East

North West

South East

South West

West Midlands

Yorkshire and the Humber

21,384

26,564

26,675

13,934

26,731

45,199

23,169

27,171

24,297

A Message from the Chairman

We received 235,124 votes in England.

We were in 6th place.

We received more votes than BNP and the English Democrats.

Not bad for a party that has only been going for six months.

A Statement from Paul Wiffen
Lead Candidate East of England

I spoke to so many people during the campaign who had
previously supported UKIP's core message of leaving the
European Union but had found that the constant addition of
right-wing policies to that message (like the privatisation of
infrastructure like NHS & the railways for example) meant
that they could no longer associate themselves with such a
rightwing position and were grateful that they could vote to
leave the EU without endorsing policies primarily added on the
hoof by Farage to attract the Tory vote. As this exactly mirrored
my experience, I felt that I was finally in the centrist party I
had always wanted to join and therefore fully able to support all
of our published policies. I'd like to thank the tens of
thousands of people who voted for me on May 22nd, which was a
very encouraging start to our first foray into the electoral
fray."

Paul Wiffen, M.A.(Hons) OXON

Mike Nattrass - Party Leader

Independence From Europe
An inclusive, democratic Euro Realist party established to give
active party members a clear voice in policy making.

Fighting the European Elections on 22 May 2014 in
every English region

Mike Nattrass has represented the people of the West
Midlands since being elected in 2004.
Born a Yorkshireman with Black Country roots on his mother's
side, he has resided in the West Midlands Region for over 39
years. He is a fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered
Surveyors, a former senior partner of Nattrass Giles which he
established in 1980.

LETTERS

Daily Mail, 9 Dec 2009

Don't bank on it

PETER OBORNE states that when he was Chancellor, Gordon Brown
'made some sensible decisions, of which the granting of
independence to the Bank of England was the most astute'
(Mail).
But rendering the Bank independent had nothing to do with him. It
was a requirement of the Protocol on Central Banks enshrined in
the Maastricht Treaty.

GEORGE CURTISDedham, Essex

Latest Media Interviews and
Speeches

Wednesday, 21 May 2014

7 mins 39 secs

An Independence From Europe

Mike Nattrass MEP talking about An Independence From Europe,
the EU and European and Domestic issues. Mike also highlights the
main differences between the two parties and the need for
Eurosceptic MEP's who will report back to the British public
and tell them what is going on.

Wednesday, 21 May 2014

BBC News - Politics

An Independence From Europe hopes to get 10% of
vote

A Eurosceptic party only formed last November is hoping to get
at least two MEPs elected in Thursday's polls.

An Independence from Europe, set up by former UKIP MEP Mike
Nattrass, is predicting that it will get more than 10% of the
total vote in polls for the European Parliament.

EU Transport Committee member Mike Nattrass MEP speaking at
the Strasbourg parliament against the Fourth Railway Package
which will impose the fragmentation and privatisation of rail
passenger services accross the whole of the EU.Read the full
transcript here

Mike Nattrass MEP forms new party

The launch of a new political party has gathered a
“splendid following”, according to the West Midlands
MEP who set it up. Mike Nattrass has launched a new Eurosceptic
group, called ‘An Independence Party'. The Euro MP says
celebrity chef Rustie Lee, and a former Welsh minister are
amongst his supporters

Friday, September
20 2013

6 mins 32 secs

Deselection and Democracy in UKIP

Andrew Neil and Mike Nattrass MEP discuss democracy in UKIP,
Mike's deselection and NOT joining the English Democrats

Mike - deselection by UKIP

Mike - deselection by UKIP

Danny Kelly and Mike Nattrass MEP discuss Mike's
deselection by UKIP

Friday, August 02
2013

4 mins 27 secs

Crime and Open Borders

Mike Nattrass MEP argues the case for policing our own
borders.
Now that Europe is effectively turning into a single country with
an implied single passport, these open borders are allowing
criminals to cross the borders of EU member states and enter the
UK.

Monday, July 29
2013

5 mins 40 secs

Jobs - Let's put local people
first

Whilst Government business minister Matthew Hancock is
critisising industry for not employing enough British workers,
the Government is advertising 800,000 jobs accross the European
Union through the EU website.

Wednesday, July 24
2013

9 mins 14 secs

Is immigration a drain on public
services?

David Cameron has said that he agrees with the proposition
that immigration causes a constant drain on public services
whilst the Office for Budget Responsibility say that we need more
immigration to take account of an ageing population. West
Midlands MEP Mike Nattrass argues that what we need is managed
immigration, which we don't have at the moment due to the
open door policy from the EU

More legislation from the EU sausage
machine - Mike Nattrass MEP

More legislation from the EU sausage machine - Witness on
debates about the length of chicken beaks, enquiries into how
much wine in a wine gum and facts about rotten fruit leading to
drunken reindeer.

Monday, July 01
2013

3 mins 17 secs

M6 Toll Free to Lories

West Midlands MEP Mike Nattrass, who is a member of the
EU’s Transport & Tourism Committee, discusses whether
an offer by the owners of the M6 Toll road to members of the Road
Haulage Association for free use of the road during July will
lead to an increase in lorries using it after this period.
Mike Nattrass argues that the Toll road is a failure and should
be brought into public ownership.

Tuesday, May 07
2013

8 mins 22 secs

relaxation of working restrictions for
people from Romania and Bulgaria

Mike Nattrass MEP in debate with the Ambassador of Romania in
London, Dr Ion Jinga about the relaxation of working restrictions
for people from Romania and Bulgaria.

Tuesday, April 23
2013

4 mins 08 secs

Should the M6 toll be free.

In July this year a trial takes place to allow members of the
Road Haulage Association to use the M6 Toll for free. The result
of this trial may well support the case for
nationalisation.

Monday, March 25
2013

4 mins 52 secs

Immigration

Mike Nattrass talks to Adrian Goldberg at Radio WM about
uncontrolled immigration and how this affects our ability to
properly budget for infrastructure which leads to increased
pressure in housing, hospitals, schools etc. Also mentioned is
the effect uncontrolled immigration has on the jobs market.

Monday, March 18
2013

4 mins 49 secs

Scrap the Tolls Protest

Mike Nattrass talks to Eric Smith at Radio Shropshire about
the Countrywide Scrap the Tolls Protest which, in the West
Midlands is taking place at the M6 Toll at Cheslyn Hay.

Wednesday, January
23 2013

4 mins

David Cameron promises EU referendum -
again

Shane O'Conner talks to Mike Nattrass MEP about David
Cameron's promise to hold a referendum on the EU.
David Cameron has again promised to hold a referendum once he has
negotiated a new deal with Europe but, only if the Conservatives
are returned to power with a majority.
Mike compares Cameron to the little boy who cried wolf and points
out that he has made referendum promises before Click here for previous EU referendum
promises.

Monday, January 07
2013

18 mins

Adieu to the EU

Annie Othen talks to Mike Nattrass MEP, Doug Squires, and
Professor Simon Bulmer about our place in the EU, what has it
done for us and what would happen if we left and asks:
Is it now time to say 'Adieu to the EU'.

Tuesday, January 01
2013

40 Year anniversary

Britain has been a member of the EU for 40 Years. Mike gives
his thoughts on what the EU has done for us during this time.

Wednesday, November
21 2012

EU Recycling targets cost Councils

Although Councils in Hereford and Worcester are only sending a
third of their waste to landfill, the fines have now doubled.
Incineration is now seen as the answer. Mike Nattrass explains
the potential pitfalls and why European landfill targets are a
'one size fits all' solution.

Monday, July 9
2012

Another cast iron promise?

As David Cameron holds out the posibility of a referendum on
whether we remain in the European Union, Mike Nattrass MEP
comments that this is like the little boy crying wolf.
He also explains why, if we left the EU, we would not see a
reduction in trade with Europe.

Saturday, June 2
2012

A referendum on Europe

Justice Secretary Ken Clarke said of a referendum on
Britain’s relationship with the European Union "I
cannot think of anything sillier to do than hold a referendum.
I’m not keen on referendums, I see no case for this
referendum.”
Mike Nattrass MEP and Michael Cashman MEP discuss Ken
Clarke's comments and the mounting calls for a
referendum.

Thursday, 17 May
2012

The Greek financial crisis

Mike Nattrass MEP talks to Adrian Goldberg about the Greek
financial crisis, the potential collapse of the Euro and the
impact it could have on the West Midlands.

Mike Nattrass MEP in the EU Parliament
in Brussels speaking about concerns on EU citizenship.

A patriotic pensioner from Walsall came under the spotlight in
Brussels when his letter to MEP Mike Nattrass, calling for advice
on how to renounce EU citizenship, was read out in the European
Parliament.

Eighty-three-year-old Alan Sheath, who lives in Portland Road,
Aldridge with his 83-year-old wife Dorothy, says he is determined
to fight Brussels bureaucrats all the way and has enlisted the
help of Mr Nattrass to seek ways in which to reject imposed EU
citizenship and defend his “birthright” of being a UK
citizen.

The Politics show - Our Economy

Mike Nattrass MEP talks about the effect Eu regulation is
having on local businesses

Monday, 19 March
2012

Roads - pay as you go?

The Coalition Government are proposing to put private
companies in charge of maintaining our roads using funding from
the private sector.
Mike Nattrass MEP and Mark Garnier MP discuss the issue.

Wednesday, 14 March
2012

For the love of cod do not do this -
SAY NO

Speech given by Mike Nattrass MEP at the European Parliament
Strasbourg on the Icelandic application to join the EU.
Mike's message to Iceland is: If you join you will loose your
fish, your freedom and your currency.For
full transcript click here.

Mike Nattrass suggests the M6 Toll
should be nationalised.

It would appear that there is a direct correlation between the
increase in M6 Toll charges and a reduction in the number of
drivers using the Toll road.
With toll charges due to rise again, more traffic will be pushed
on to the M6.

Mike suggests that the Toll road should now be brought back
into public ownership.

Thursday, 2
February 2012

Top Totty banned from the
Strangers' bar.

Mike Nattrass MEP and Yvonne Roberts talk to Danny Kelly about
moves by the House of Commons to throw out Stafford Brewer,
Slaters fine beer 'Top Totty' after shadow equalities
minister Kate Green said she was "disturbed" to hear it
was on sale in The Strangers' Bar.

Thursday, 5 January
2012

Plans to widen the M6 are just a
'sticking plaster'

Mike Nattrass MEP talks to Phil Upton about the proposals to
widen the M6.

The Highways Agency are planning to spend around £130 million
between Junction 5 Castle Bromwich and Junction 8 the M5 to use a
managed traffic system which campaigners say will just be a
sticking plaster.

Thursday, 10
December 2011.

Mike Nattrass MEP talks to Adrian
Goldberg at BBC Radio WM

Mike Nattrass MEP comments on the view put forward by Richard
Murphy from Tax Research UK that David Cameron's veto now
makes the City of London a tax haven which threatens democracy,
undermines economies and will result in job losses

Wednesday, 9
November 2011.

Mike Nattrass MEP talks to Andrew
Easton at BBC Hereford and Worcester Radio

West Midlands MEP Mike Nattrass has launched a stinging attack
on a European court ruling that could hit British beekeeping.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that all jars of
honey may have to be relabelled to say they contain pollen and
this judgment means producers will have to show the pollen is not
genetically modified. See full story

Mike Nattrass MEP talks to Adrian
Goldberg at BBC WM

Mike Nattrass comments that the EU is
incapable of overseeing the single market.

States have been given ten years to comply with the
legislation but some large egg producers have still not met the
requirements. For those that have, it has been at tremendous
cost. If the EU now extends the deadline, producers that
haven't complied will have an unfair advantage which could
result in the closure of those that have.

MEPs call for fairness on new egg
rules

Mike Nattrass and Nikki Sinclaire are using a "written
declaration" to call on the European Parliament to impose
tough sanctions on member states who choose to ignore new rules
outlawing the sale of eggs from non-enriched cages.
This is the first time a UKIP MEP has used this official form of
attack.
Mike comments - This will lead UK egg producers to go out of
business ... because they HAVE complied with the EU regs!!

Mike talks to Ed Doolan at BBC WM
about the EU imposition of a £150,000,000 fine.

The EU has instructed the British Government to collect around
£150 million in fines because of failures to prominently display
the EU flag or logo where European funding is involved.
Local organisations and businesses have also been fined including
the YMCA and Advantage West Midlands.

Mike discusses all of this as well as the lack of interest in
Europe,
why we don't get fined when we don't fly our national
flag and why we can't fly the European flag upside down.

Independence From Europe
2015 General Election Broadcast

Latest
news

Another of UKIP's most loyal and high profile members over
the past 15 years resigns because of Farage.

Dear colleagues and friends,
I am very sorry to have to say, I have today made the decision
to resign from UKIP.
By being deselected as the candidate for Portsmouth South it
has made my position in the party untenable and impossible to
support the party any longer.
Nigel and the leadership hierarchy have demonstrated
conclusively that they are willing to manipulate the MP
candidates' selection processRead
more...

Here we have UKIP saying that privatisation is necessary in
the NHS. So are we to the left of UKIP ... or do we just have
better judgement? See link below to UKIP statement.
Whilst we have no problem with private hospitals and have no
issue with people who wish to pay for their treatment WE DO NOT
ACCEPT A MIXED PRIVATE/STATE FUNDED NHS.Read
more...

Mike Nattrass MEP, Leader of "AN INDEPENDENCE FROM
EUROPE" who will be standing at the 22 May election, has
exposed the spending of UK taxpayers money on an EU 2.5 billion
euro, six year aid package to South America.
"These billions are from the EU, an organisation that has
failed to get its own accounts cleared for the past 18 years and
seems unable to sort out its own governance for spending or for
the care of its own population" said Mike Nattrass MEP
"This means our taxes will be going to Argentina, amongst
other places!" said Mike
The funding, unveiled by EU development commissioner Andris
Piebalgs, will support a programme to improve social cohesion in
the region.
Read more

This aspect of unnecessary compulsion from the EU is why I
originally started my quest for Independence from the EU.
As a Chartered Surveyor I have always defended Imperial Measure.
The EU insisted we changed to metric measure in the 1980s and I
became actively Euro sceptic, a rebel.Read more

As an MEP on the EU Transport Committee I still wonder why the
EU motivation for HS2 via the EU TENT-T project is never
mentioned!!
The HS2 budget is as remarkable for what has been left out of the
list of costs, as for what has been included. The £50bn cost has
more or less now been admitted by Sir David Higgins, but his
suggestion is, that if we build it more quickly, it will cost
less. The fact is ...Read
full article

... The importance of what you are saying is that WHEN a UK
Government actually wish to leave, they can ignore the crazy exit
rules of article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty and simply have that
vote at Westminster and leave. That is very important to
me.
UKIP do not accept this, as Farage believes that the EU exit
requirements must be followed. AIP say that Westminster has the
ability and any referendum is legally not necessary.

Mike Nattrass MEP says the current floods are much worse due
to EU directives and that the expensive EU Land Fill Tax should
not apply to dredged silt.
The disposal of silt dredged from rivers by local landowners has
been made complex and expensive by EU regulations. It has become
attractive to take the easy option of the ‘financial
incentives’ given to ‘conservation schemes’
rather than do the real job.Read
more...

The EU is Socialist and having embraced the Communist East of
Europe is now left of the left. President Barroso of the EU
Commission was a Maoist and you cannot get further left than
that.
The leftish pipe dreams of EU grandees, who do not understand the
concept of a free market or personal freedom, emerges yet again
and personal savings are to be manipulated by the
EU.
It takes no time for the EU to embrace thrift, a concept they do
not understand, undermine it and simply turn it into a nightmare.
So will EU citizens, in an attempt to avoid the EU's control
of banks, buy gold and hide it under the bed?
From Reuters: EU executive sees personal savings used to plug
long-term financing gap

It has been argued that parts of the Somerset Levels, being
below sea level, were bound to flood after such relentless
rainfall.
At first sight it may seem that the lack of dredging has resulted
from government cut backs, but on closer examination it appears
that resources have been switched to less important projects. The
real crux is that parts of the Somerset Levels have been
sacrificed as a result of EU directives to promote biodiversity
and the creation of inland lakes.
Read more...

Latest Farage comments on floods indicate UKIP has abandoned
anti-EU role
Despite having days in which to take on board the extent of
EU’s responsibility, for turning what would have been
annoying floods into a major incident that has gone on for weeks,
the sum total of Farage’s effort to explain it to
Sky’s audience was this reference to the Environment
Agency’s role in the matter...
Read full article...

The Head of Policy for UKIP, Tim Aker has supported attacks,
by Farage, on the first real UKIP Manifesto; claiming that,
"The previous head of policy put together a manifesto that
was almost 500 pages of junk.”
Surprisingly Mr Aker has had a University education, though you
might be forgiven if you were to question its value, for he
clearly has an appalling memory! You see Mr Aker was the
co-author of this self same document.
Read more...

EU directives actually require certain plains to become
flooded.
Included in these are the EU’s Natura 2000 strategy along
with a sheaf of directives on “habitats”,
“birds”, “water”, and not least the
“floods” directive of 2007, which specifically
requires certain “floodplains” to be allowed to
flood.
Full article at the Telegraph

Thanks for messing with our regulations.
Thanks for cocking up our basic infrastructure.
Thanks for your open borders invasion which has increased our
housing problem, over crowded our roads, wrecked our hospitals
and decreased job prospects, whilst lowering the working
man's wage and confusing our school teachers.
Thanks for taking £55 million of our UK money per day and then
wanting £10 billion over 5 years to support the Eurozone failure,
a project we do not want.Read
more...

The Point of Hinckley Point
or ....
The point of having a Government who only sit there and point
?
What is the point in having a British Government, when it no
longer has the power to decide which industries it wishes to
subsidise through state aid?Read more...

An Independence Party MEP Mike Nattrass is asking questions of
the EU Commission to determine how a commercial company can be
protected by a Member State from shirking its legal and moral
responsibilities.

Thalidomide was developed in the 1950s by the West German
pharmaceutical company Chemie Grünenthal GmbH. It is a powerful
drug that was sold over the counter and prescribed to many
pregnant women principally during the period 1958 to 1962 before
being withdrawn. There were over 20,000 live births of severely
impaired babies world-wide though it is estimated that at least
100,000 babies died in utero. Then, knowing all this, they
released the drug in Spain in 1965!
Read the full document...

West Midlands MEP Mike Nattrass is set to meet pilots at the
European Parliament ahead of a crucial vote which could force
through French-driven rules which could jeopardise air travel
safety.
Mike has joined forces with the British Airline Pilots
Association (BALPA) to wage a concerted campaign against the
proposed new EU regulations which will dilute existing UK
standards and legally allow pilots to land their aircraft 22
hours after they woke for the day.Read full
article...

EU Transport Committee member Mike Nattrass MEP and Chartered
Surveyor has questioned the Government’s grip over the HS2
budget, quoting a survey which shows the cost of farmland in the
West Midlands has hit a “record high”
West Midlands MEP Mike Nattrass says the Coalition Government is
presiding over a Swiss cheese, following the publication of yet
another hole in it, the RICS Rural Land Market Survey which shows
farmland prices have more than trebled since 2004.Read full
article...

EU Transport Committee member Mike Nattrass MEP says it is
high time for Britain to get into the fast lane and leave the
European Union following revelations that billions of pounds has
been blown on unnecessary motorways projects.
West Midlands MEP Mike Nattrass, who is a member of the
EU’s Transport & Tourism Committee, says a new report
by the European Court of Auditors (ECA), has revealed a story of
chronic waste which has seen £2.5 billion being wasted on road
construction schemes in Europe.
Read full article...

EU Transport Committee member Mike Nattrass says the Coalition
Government has been left red-faced yet again over HS2 after a
senior Treasury civil servant warned this week that the
controversial rail project could be scrapped if its cost
continues to skyrocket.
West Midlands MEP Mike Nattrass, who is a member of the
EU’s Transport & Tourism Committee, believes the
Government is clearly in disarray over the multi-billion rail
scheme following a statement by Nick Macpherson in which he
insisted that there was no blank cheque book for HS2.Read full
article...

West Midlands MEP Mike Nattrass has welcomed calls by the
Institute of Directors (IoD) for a multi-billion
‘folly’ project to be abandoned.
EU Transport Committee member Mike Nattrass commented today:
“The IoD quite rightly describe the HS2 project as
‘one grand folly’ but at least a folly can be
decorative. This rail line would destroy the countryside and
whole communities and its cost continues to escalate at high
speed.Read
full article...

EU Transport Committee member Mike Nattrass says Yorkshire
farmers will furrow their brows over EU regulations to limit
tractor vibration.
The West Midlands MEP says the EU is again attempting to plough
ahead with yet more shaky regulations – this time governing
the level of vibrations experienced by farmers while driving
their tractors.Read full
article...

EU Transport Committee member Mike Nattrass says the Liberal
Democrats could be on a journey to electoral oblivion following
news the Party is again looking at introducing road
charging.
MEP Mike Nattrass, who is a member of the EU’s Transport
& Tourism Committee and is UKIP’s Prospective
Parliamentary General Election Candidate for Skipton & Ripon,
says the Lib Dems will be on a collision course with voters if
they push ahead with draconian ‘anti motorist’
policies.
Read full article...

West Midlands MEP Mike Nattrass fears huge job losses and cuts
to rural postal services will result from EU and Conservative
driven plans to privatise the Royal Mail.
The UKIP MEP said: “The ongoing destruction of the Royal
Mail lies firmly at the door of the EU and the Lib/Lab/Con who
voted for it in the EU Parliament while UKIP voted against the
regulations. These Parties delivered regulations that should have
been lost in the post.Read full
article...

Mike Nattrass MEP has written to Grünenthal (The German
manufacturer of anti-morning sickness drug Thalidomide) asking
why 469 British Thalidomide survivors have not received due
compensation.
The letter proposes that Grünenthal now set up a fund for British
victims as they have already done for 3,000 victims in Contental
Europe.Read the full Letter (opens as
PDF)

Campaigners, who hope to make legal history by launching a
class action-style suit against HS2 Ltd and the Secretary of
State over the proposed High Speed Rail line, have launched a new
website this week.
This week promises to be a busy week for anti-HS2 campaigners as
Stop HS2 will be holding a national convention at the
Staffordshire County Showground this Saturday (June 29).
UKIP Transport Spokesman Mike Nattrass, who will be on the
question panel at the Convention, is looking forward to seeing a
good turnout to this Saturday’s event.Read
full article...

UKIP Transport Spokesman Mike Nattrass has challenged the
owner of the beleaguered M6 Toll to bite the bullet and admit the
road has been an abject failure following news that motorists may
soon get access to the route at peak times.
West Midlands MEP Mike Nattrass says it is time for Midland
Expressway Limited (MEL) and the Government to ‘pull their
heads out of the sand’ and finally accept that the
privately run toll road should be nationalised.Read
more...

Long-suffering UK rail commuters are still being given a raw
deal despite being crippled by the most expensive train fares in
Europe.
UKIP Transport Spokesman Mike Nattrass says urgent action needs
to be taken to put British rail services back on the right track
following the release of a report by the Office of Rail
Regulation (ORR) which shows the quality of train services in
Britain is falling well behind the standard of services offered
to passengers travelling on the Continent.Read more...

UKIP Transport Spokesman Mike Nattrass says, that after years
of denials HS2 is an EU scheme, the genie is finally out of the
bottle following news that a proposed new railway station in
Birmingham will have a platform for trains to Brussels.
The West Midlands MEP says news that the proposed Curzon Street
interchange will have a platform for high speed trains to the
Continent proves HS2 is an EU driven vanity project.Read more...

Another incinerator is being considered by the Government at
Hartlebury following the County Council's fight against local
protests, but are the facts really understood? asks Mike Nattrass
the local UKIP MEP.

The M6 Toll, which was designed to be a relief road, has been
an abject failure. Figures show fewer and fewer vehicles are
using this road but despite this trend MEL, which posted £49
million losses last summer, will be hitting motorists with
increased toll charges from March.

“The nation that gave birth to Drake, Cook, and Nelson,
might know a thing or two about the sea,” says Mike
Nattrass MEP.

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